Which Way Gave You Hope?
by TouchingNoFace
Summary: He, once again, meets Song. She, for the first time, meets Zuko. The paths they have chosen they live by, yet what are these feelings less traveled?
1. Chapter 1

"Zuko. I'm _begging_ you. Look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want."

"It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose _good."_

"Ever since my son died–"

-Iroh

* * *

"Because I'm not sorry for what I did."

The quiet that bloomed outside, beneath a trees shade from the sun, held a soft essence: deep and tolerable. Zuko couldn't press his finger to it, push it down to nil– and he didn't want to. It was a quiet that wasn't disturbed by voice, by words. Speaking didn't break the silence that breezed with the wind of "understanding" and the airs of "listen". Zuko leaned back against the tree trunk, fingering the vial Song handed to him. How tiny it was, in the palm of his hand...

He clutched it.

"It's better this way." He went on speaking, comfortably. "It's the way I've chosen. I have no regrets." The gash in his left arm– bandaged by her– the tear on his left sleeve attire– fixed by her– the cuts and bruises on his legs– herbed and cared for by her. Her, who he had stolen from. Her, who he had not seen in many a-time. Why did she help him? She, who owed him not the breath to which she spoke to him!

"The Fire Nation...you are a fugitive." Song wrapped up her medicinal supplies on the moist soil pricked with bright green grass beneath them. "I've seen posters...You are the _prince_ of the–?"

"Not anymore."

"I see."

"Do you really?" Zuko crunched the vial in his palm; its blue juice flowed down his wrist. "Because I don't. I can't accept this. I don't know you well enough to."

Song looked down at the broken shards of the vial, a mixture of surprise, sadness, and comprehension playing on her face. Finally, she answered his wordless barrier: "I do see. I see a lot more than you yourself may, Prince Zuko–"

"– Junior," Zuko corrected firmly.

"I'll call you what I like after you crush my medicine," Song said calmly, and Zuko suspected she used this stern voice– equal to his own!– on her tempermental patients. "There's no rush to send yourself to an early grave right? There's been much more death than when you last left; I won't let there be anymore if I can help it. The Fire Nation hasn't taken away my right to help– and neither will their Prince.

Now, _Junior_ Prince, come on."

"Junior Prince!" burst Zuko.

Song nodded. "Junior Prince. Small Prince. Ostrich-horse stealing Prince. – They all become one prince, don't they?" Song shook her head, and then smiled, cloth bag strapped around her shoulder. Without asking for approval she bent and hoisted Zukos arm around her.

"What!" Zuko burst, blushing, flustered. "What are you..!"

"'What' prince," Song added..._smirking? _She heaved, and then- with remarkable power for someone her size- pulled him to his feet in smooth motion. "Up you go!"

"I stole from you–! You could have tried to poison me with that vial for all I–!" Zuko shouted, unable to withdraw his arm from her grasp; she held on tight and his energy was drained enough just from standing.

"– Lean more on me. There you go. Lets do our best; there's no hurry to get there...but all the better. Your injuries," Song said, as they stepping in unison together, slowly, by long pause-by-pause, "need more treatment , with more medicine then what I have on me at the moment–"

"Why are you doing this?" Zuko tried to search into her eyes- melt her into a submissional response: bribery, Azulas secret power, Dai Li agents- all the appropriate answers- but she would not look at him directly; Song only faced forward with a determined, yet somehow hopeful and reassured smile on her face.

"– your injuries–" Song kept going back to. She would not answer the question.

* * *

_Authors Note: Hey there readers! Hopefully, this first part was a smidge enjoyable? It has been an impulsive choice to write this, fun nonetheless. This takes place just a bit after the second season finale. No plans. No plots. Nothing. Just a firm "go" of the chapters for me. Hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading! Happy fic-finding in the Avatar section!_


	2. Chapter 2

"Let me walk on my own," insisted Zuko , tired and aggravated.

"No."

"If you're caught by Fire Nation soldiers–"

Song raised an eyebrow. "And a 'talk' prince."

"If you're caught with a fugitive–"

Song sighed, paused her movement and Zukos. She looked at him directly. "You are not the first fugitive I've helped. I know the precautions, I know the consequences of dealing with those running from rule. And Prince Zuko, I don't care. I'm telling you, I am going to help you if you are hurt. That...that is what I do.

So let us keep moving–"

"And if you get hurt, who has to live with that?" Zuko said forcefully. A flash of his mother veered into his mind- and blew out as soon as it had come. "Who has to live with the pain" he glared, " of being left behind?"

"People like you...and...people like me." Song turned her face from him, and he remembered her story: how her father was taken by the Fire Nation. She, too, knew the knife that dug into absence...that knife with a blade of metal loneliness that crushed into an, already bruised, exsistence. "But if you need help...I won't just leave you alone. What happens in the future is undecided."

_Undecided. Unlimited. _"Rest your voice, Prince Zuko." _Chances. Possibilities. _Azula had said that too. Azula had promised that too. The yearning to believe her had oversiezed him: he followed it- followed her. Even...even betrayed-

For once, the silence was defeaning. Zuko mumbled, "You should speak," in hopes of hearing a voice to banish his memories. He wanted emptiness. If he wasn't hollow...he would remember.

"You want to hear a story?" Song said cheerily, moving an odd branch from a tree they passed from their side. "I learned it when I was a widdle."

"Widdle?" Zuko blinked.

"Um, 'little'. It's what my mom called me as a kid." Song blushed and went on. They were moving further from the green clearing. Zuko could see the structure of the Earthkingdom village where Song lived. "It's kind of strange; it's about turtle ducks–"

"– I don't want to hear it," Zuko said instantly.

"Oh, but it's really very good–"

"I don't want to hear it." Zuko ignored the wound that flashed across Songs face. He looked down at their feet and remembered...her scar...his scar...

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry. Do you want to hear another..?" Song tried, but Zuko shook his head. No more stories. "Oh...all right."

"It's not you." Zuko grunted.

A dagger of pain pressed into his side and made him wince. Song caught it, and gave him a sympathetic glance, but kept moving.

"Almost there," she said.

The village murmuring reached Zukos years. The silence that was so comfortable faded.

The noise came.

* * *

"Ba Sing Se! No!"

"Yup. I heard it from my sisters Uncle- who be my Uncle too but we from different blood you see-"

"Get on! Ba Sing Se captured by the Fire Nation?"

"It really is the end!"

"Heard it be thanks to that...whatcha ma zo!"

"KANGAROO!"

"The Zu-ko-ko! Yeah, that's right! The banished sucker- the low prince."

"Who ever heard of such nonsense? It was the princess of the Fire Nation Basco!"

"How can you forget the witches name? It's _Azula_ and I never ever liked 'er. Never ever liked any Fire Nation citizens to be frank."

"THE ASHES ARE COMING! THE ASHES ARE COMING!"

"Mama, why did the Fire Nation take over Ba Sing Se?"

"Because they want the hills could people make, my child; they want what we have strived to achieve: peace, prosperity, and respect. And once they have it they want to crush it, because it was not theirs in the first place."

"But why can't they just build hills together Mama? Wouldn't that solve everything? If they helped build 'peaces' and 'respecters', wouldn't everyone be happy?"

"If it were that simple, it wouldn't be that hard."

"Oh!" Song stopped.

"What?" Zuko glanced at her curiously.

"You can't be..." Song released him and bent down. A loud _riiiiiip! _splintered the air. She stood back up with a wide portion of her attire held in her hands. "You can't be..." She threw her cloth atop his head.

"...recognized."

_Chances. Possibilities._ Yes, they would come but...in this circumstance...

_Why didn't they build hills together Mama?_

-they would not come to 'Zuko'.

* * *

_Whooooooooooa! Thank you to everyone who has commented! I really appreciate your support. I know these chapters are ridiculously short, but I will keep trying to keep'em comin'. Thank you again, and happy Avatar fic-finding in the Avatar section!_


	3. Chapter 3

"For you, a thousand times over!"-_Hassan, _Kite Runner

* * *

_In an old, old, childhood tale...:_

The milky brown feathers, gently moving up and down, bloomed into the banished Prince Zukos vision. The birds that so selfishly wanted to land themselves back home, had no home to return to; they were small orphans in the war– just baby birds who were not quite yet accoustemed to the bloodshed of beaks, and tearing of limbs.

_Where will we go? _One whispered with her wings.

_Where we must,_ another answered with a glance.

But where would that be? They all wondered aloud, shaking, pondering the magic of drifting to sleep with images of beautiful, misty ponds, lush grass, and caring pecks, only to awaken to...

The leader, larger, and swifter than them all, leading the flock weaving in the sky thrust his head up promisingly.

_To The Land of the Turtle Ducks.

* * *

_

"I _refuse_ to be called that."

"Why? It's such a lovely name! A special name. Although I think Junior was nice too. Don't you want to try something different–"

"No."

"– this time?"

"Not at all."

"It breathes 'undercover'–"

"– All the more reason not to use it."

"Well, if you want to be called Junior I can't really stop you..."

"Of course you can't."

"...That would sound a lot more intimidating if you weren't wrapped around the head with part of a pink garmet." Song shrugged and smiled. "We're close."

They were; Zuko could vaguely remember passing by the wood homes and stores touched by the healthiness of greenery here and there before: pots with bushes laid on porches, a decorative, flowery plant poking from an open window. Sunlight. Children moving to and fro with a baby doll in hand or a stick to throw. There were those in bandages, limbs broken and eyes black with fight. They were few visibly hurt, however, and even they- bruised physically from battle- looked content in a village, an Earthkingdom village, Songs village, that...that was 'soft', for a time, unhindered by the greediness of war...

Zuko looked down, below Songs knee.

_Almost,_ he corrected, unhindered by war.

"Here we are!" Song declared beaming. She helped Zuko up onto her porch. "Wait here," she whispered, hurrying into her home.

_Her_ home.

Zuko- with a grunt- made his way down onto the porch floor. _Rest_, a voice inside him said. _Just rest. _Zuko achingly relaxed on his back. The noise hadn't stopped, he could still hear what others were saying, as they passed before him on the dusty ground:

"Did you hear? There's gonna be a sharkshrimp game this a-comin'! Don't tell the women, they gonna spoil everything."

"Yes, I suppose those vegetables look decent to _you,_ but to _me,_ the _customer,_ they are ravished with a henious I dare not name. Give me a discount."

"Half the price for half the slice!"

"Like _wooooooo! _And he- then he- just EARTHBENDED it like WHOOOA..! I wish I could do that but, you know, I– um– just don't have the _time..._and–"

"I wonder how they're doing?"

"Hundreds hurt, I heard."

"Happened here long ago. Let them get a whiff of the fire too, I say. Let everyone get a whiff of the smoke. Let no one be saved if all are not saved."

"Azula– "

"Zuko– "

"Did you hear?"

"Did you hear?"

_"Did you hear about the Fire Nation?"_

Zuko shut his eyes. The noise lessened, but did not stop. It would not stop. Silence came briefly, and then it fled. It danced with him, tormented him. Why did calm come if it would not always be that way? Uncle–

BAM! Zuko pounded his fist and rose. _Rest. REST._ – There was no time for that!

The sound of a door sliding slipped pass his ears. Zuko turned and found Song and her mother murmuring together, nearing him on the porch..

"This time," Song was saying, "his name is Baby. Isn't it sweet–?"

Her mother looked thoughtful. "'Tulip' would sound so much better in gossip..."

"But Baby Junior–"

"Junior," Zuko spoke firmly. "My name is still Junior here."

"But Baby Junior..."

"Once again, we must have roast duck." Songs mother smiled. "Come in, come in Tulip–"

"No. Really." Zuko frowned. "Don't do that."

* * *

_Authors Note: Aww, poor Zuko. (He really doesn't like that!) Here is another chapter. I hope it can still be, at least, a smidge enjoyable for those who continue to read. The quote for this chapter comes from a great book, _Kite Runner,_ and I would suggest it to all who want a raw, real read that doesn't cut corners on sadness. Well, happy fic-finding in the Avatar section, as always, and thank you, very much, for reading!_


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